Southern Tier Sports ReportBINGHAMTON — Down 13-9 in the seventh inning, the Notre Dame baseball team put together an all-time inning, scoring 11 times in the top of the seventh on their way to a 20-14 win over Schenevus for their first sectional title since 1998.
“It’s definitely a different feeling than we are used to,” Notre Dame senior Luke Richards said. “Since I’ve been here we were 0-2. The joy of getting that last out is kind of unmatched.
“I feel like it’s just we want it more than the other teams. The guys just have that dog in them. They want to fight, they want to win. That’s all they care about in that moment.”
For Notre Dame coach Brad Ballinger this was a special moment.
“Very proud of this group,” he said. “I told them we have 18 regular season games to get ready for a three-game tournament. We need to improve every single day and we did. The boys did a great job of staying in the game tonight. We talked about this game being up and down game. They believed the whole game that they could pull this one off. Two kids pitched for us that hadn’t pitched much all year and they did a great job keeping us in the game. Our seventh grader Colin Strong finished the game on the mound and did an amazing job throwing strikes.
“The seventh inning was unbelievable. We started at the eight spot and both of them (eight and nine hitters) got on. From there I knew we have a chance with how well the top of our order produces. One through nine contributed tonight. A true team win. I’m very proud of this group. They should be proud of themselves. They just accomplished something the school’s baseball program hasn’t done since 1998.”
Schenevus led 3-0 after one inning and 6-1 after two innings.
Notre Dame scored three in the third, but Schenevus scored two themselves to lead 8-4.
Both teams got a run in the fourth and Schenevus got a run in the fifth to go up 10-5. Notre Dame scored four in the sixth, with Schenevus scoring three more, setting up the big inning for Notre Dame.
“I feel like we realized we needed better approaches at the plate,” Richards said. “We knew if we hit the baseball hard they’d make errors. We wanted it really bad. We have been working for this so many years.
“We have had big innings before, but to come in such a clutch time as that, it was good. We all came together, we all rallied. With two outs we didn’t let up.”
Notre Dame had 11 hits in the game, and Schenevus committed nine errors.
In the seventh Colin Strong walked and Colton Welch reached on an error. Jhamez Boyd walked to load the bases and Anthony Barkley hit an RBI single.
Luke Richards reached on an error, scoring a run and Sebastian Capriotti reached on an error, scoring another run.
Malachi Cain hit a two-run single and after Brednen O’Brien was hit by a pitch the Crusaders hit into a double play.
Leading by just a run with two outs, the Crusaders scored six more times as Strong walked, Welch walked, Boyd walked scoring a run and Barkley was hit by a pitch scoring a run. Richards was hit by a pitch scoring a run and Boyd scored on a passed ball.
Boyd had three hits, an RBI and four runs scored and Barkley had three hits, two RBI and four runs scored.
Richards had two hits, four RBI and three runs scored and Sebastian Capriotti had a hit, an RBI and two runs scored.
Cain had a hit, four RBI and a run scored and O’Brien had two RBI and two runs scored.
Kraeger had a hit and Strong and Welch each scored two runs.
Boyd worked an inning, striking out one and Kraeger worked four innings with three strikeouts. Strong, a seventh-grader, worked the last two innings, allowing one hit and one run, striking out two.
“We went out, got the first two outs (In the seventh) pretty comfortable. One guy walked, guy hit a triple, with Colin on the mound we had confidence,” Richards said. “Colin Strong, he’s a seventh grader, we believed in him and he got the job done.”
For Richards it’s special to cap his career with a sectional title.
“It’s great,” he said. “Me and Sebastian have been on the team since eighth grade. We worked toward this for five years. Freshman year team, that’s probably the best all around team I’ve been a part of. But, we weren’t able to win it. The fact that we finally got it done. All the hard work has finally paid off and it feels great.”
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